some of the long-time members of this section may recall me, and some discussions we had about racing strategies and ideas:
I haven't contributed much in the last 5 years

in February 2010, my fiancee injured her back while working at Lowes, and a few months later, while rehabbing from that injury, she was diagnosed with Stage III-C breast cancer
she spent the next 29 months fighting for her life, enduring a double mastectomy, various infections, 3 different rounds of chemo, radiation therapy, and even considered experimental treatments, but she eventually died in my arms 3 days after Christmas 2012, shortly after turning 58

on my birthday in August 2012, during her 2nd bout with chemo, she was too-sick to go out for dinner, or even buy me a card, but she walked into my office and threw a business envelope onto my lap, saying "this is my 401K ~ cash it in, get the car ready, so I can see you race one last time before I die"
I threw it back into her face, encouraging her to "get your health back ~ we'll use all of that envelope, heist a bank to get whatever-else we need, and THEN we'll go racing"

a few weeks after she passed, her co-worker called from the store, saying I'd been named to receive her 401K, and I thought-back to that conversation
I spent the remainder of 2013 looking at the front-end of passing freight trains, and thinking about going racing again

in November 2013, I contacted a guy who has a one-man chassis shop, Doug Carty, in Largo Florida, about having my one-owner, low-mileage 1979 Z28 Camaro back-halved, explaining that I wanted to put the biggest tire I could without radically changing the body, then use a mild SBC crate-motor, for something that would never, ever spin the tires
the last time I had raced the car, in 1993, the car spun the tires probably 30% of my runs (60' would vary 2-tenths), losing many rounds of eliminations, and I didn't want to endure that frustration again

after agreeing to a price, the car was delivered to his shop on 6 February 2014, and he said he'd have it done in "6-to-8 weeks"









two days later, he called, asking me to pick-up the parts he'd removed already, and to see what had been done






work continued at a feverish pace, with daily updates provided via facebook




















20 days after dropping the car off, Doug (shown) called, saying "get this piece of crap OUTTA my shop!!!"

so I loaded the car-up, and brought it home


with the new rear-suspension, the front now sat way too-high, but that could, and would, be changed






over the last few years, I had helped Fuzzy Dice with his racing Camaro at local events, and observed how Rob Reynolds, owner of Space Coast Speed & Custom, had kept Dan's car running, and I had spoken to Rob about my idea of a little-motor / big-tire car being consistent, and although Rob always nodded his head, I believe he thought I was either kidding about under-powering a big-tire car like that, crazy for cutting-up a pristine car, or both
Rob is also a stellar racer in his-own right, often winning races each season at multiple tracks

once the Z28 was back-halved, he took me more-seriously, and we began discussing alternatives to a GM-built 'spec-racing' crate-motor for this project
after a few talks, we decided to build a .030"-over 350 engine, run it on alcohol for consistency, but use stronger parts than we needed, for durability ~ 4-bolt block, Eagle crank & rods, Mahle pistons, bullet-proof shaft-mounted rocker-arms, etc., but a relatively mild solid-lifter cam, to limit RPM & keep the thing maintenance-free as we could

we also swapped-out the THM-400 transmission for a PowerGlide, 8" spragless converter, and an electric, RPM-activated shifter, again hoping to be as consistent as possible
the car had sat in-storage since the 1993 NHRA Division 1 E.T. Finals (I got down to the last 5 cars when the transmission broke, and I had my opponent covered, giving me what would've been an odd-lot bye-run into the Final Round), so Rob also rebuilt the entire front-end, including the brakes, making sure the car would stop, and used drop-spindles to get the nose down to a proper height

I brought the car back from Space Coast Speed & Custom last week with it's new drive-train & lowered stance






because we retained the original seats, the shoulder harnesses don't fit snugly on my shoulders, and before it goes down the track, we need to have the seats 'notched', so the belts can pass-through them
the entire interior will receive fresh Black carpet, including the aluminum done during the back-half, then the car will get fresh paint, as much of the now 36 year-old enamel is flaking & falling off the car in large pieces

I hope to get her down the track in mid 2015, and will try to keep you informed of how this is progressing, as-well-as check-in when Dan posts his updates
my car certainly won't be the fastest (it'll probably be the slowest big-tire car in history, but it wasn't built with the intention of going quick or fast), but if it can run the number when others can't, and if I can still cut a light, I may win a few rounds now & then